It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then WordPress came along and everything changed. Now, it’s getting increasingly harder to tell blogs and websites apart. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of web design and also being able to tell what’s “under the hood”.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS application like WordPress and other website-building tools is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the areas that matter to most website owners, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the site up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a cost that is significantly less than the cost of getting option ”A” built.
If you chose web site “B”, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can give you a stunning website that will usually turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using web-building software … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful CMS application suitable for most business needs.
Whether your reason for having a website or blog is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no knowledge of coding to use and manage, and offers an array of helpful features that make your website more effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your site is also driven by the WordPress CMS.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great to show your web developer an existing site with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get a similar site built quite inexpensively?
Does My Website Run On WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard about all of the great benefits of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on WordPress, or some other CMS.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are some simple ways to tell if a website has been built with WordPress:
Look At Your Source Code
If you know how to search the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for obvious tell-tale footprints that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing your page source code in Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you visit a website that you like, and you’re wondering if the site runs on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
After the source code of the page loads on your screen, search for the words “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot locate “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not necessarily mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site runs on WordPress, as we will soon discuss.
As the point of this post is to help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easy methods you can use to check if your site is built with WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, many web developers, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you can’t tell what application was used to build it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your website if your website runs on WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing online and you would like to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the site template has not been modified, you can often see a “Powered by WordPress” message showing below the footer section of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – site footer)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site was built with WordPress or not …
Tools That Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of online applications that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress?
(Is It WordPress? – WP Site Checking Tool)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that tells you if a website runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really simple. Just type in or paste in the URL of the site into the URL field and click the button.
It will then go through the URL pages and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the web site is not a WP website, you will see a message like the one shown below …
To use this tool, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer.com
(Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox / Chrome Web Browser)
If you use either the Firefox or Chrome browser and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress sites, then Wappalyzer is a useful extension to install on your web browser.
Wappalyzer tells you what software is installed on the sites while you are browsing.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
Wappalyzer is also an easy web browser add-on to install and use.
After installing Wappalyzer, icons will display in your web browser, in the URL field allowing you to see which software is being used by the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on the browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
To visit the Wappalyzer browser add-on website, go here:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, go here:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, go here:
We hope that you have found the above tutorial useful.
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"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya